Digest of Paramacharya's Discourses on Soundaryalahari (DPDS- 70) March 24

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Namaste.

Recall the Note about the organization of the ‘Digest’,

from DPDS – 26 or the earlier ones.

V. Krishnamurthy

A Digest of Paramacharya’s Discourses on Soundaryalahari -

70

(Digest of pp.1205 -1210 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,

4th imprn.)

 

There is a subtle matter of yoga-shAstra in shloka #61. In

the order of description of the divine form from head to

foot, the next, after the eyes, is the nose.

 

asau nAsAvamshaH tuhinagiri-vamsha-dhvaja-paTi

tvadIyo nedIyaH phalatu phalam-asmAkam-ucitaM /

vahaty-antar-muktAH shishira-kara-nishvAsa-galitaM /

samRddhyA yat-tAsAM bahir-api ca muktAmaNi-dharaH // 61 //

 

tuhina-giri-vamsha-dhvaja-paTi : (Snow-mountain - lineage

– flag ) Oh Flag of the House of the Mountain of Snow,

asau tvadIyaH nedIyaH nAsAvamshaH : this nose of Yours,

which is more like the hollow bamboo staff of that flag --

phalatu : May it bestow

asmAkaM : on us

ucitaM phalaM : the appropriate fruit.

vahati : (it -- that is, the staff-like nose --) contains

 

antaH : in its inside,

muktAH : pearls.

yat tAsAM samRddhyA : for it is out of their abundance

bahir-api ca : that even on the outside

muktAmaNi-dharaH : (there appears) a nasal pendant, in the

form of one pearl,

shishira-kara-nishvAsa-galitaM : (moon-cooled – outgoing

breath – pushed out) pushed out, as it were, by the

moon-cooled breath of the left nostril.

 

It is natural for the bamboo to be hollow. Ambaal’s smooth

nose has also the hollows of the nostril. And it is natural

for ambaal to have nasal pendants. Here we are talking of

pearl pendants – cf. muktAmaNi-dharaH. In Madurai and

Kanyakumari, the diamond nasal pendant of the Goddess is

famous. “tArA-kAnti tiraskAri nAsAbharaNa-bhAsurA” is one

of the names in Lalita Sahasranama. It means She excels

even the lustrous light of the stars by means of the

dalliance of Her nasal ornaments. A star radiates light of

all colours. The light of the star is also of the

diamond-type. So the ornament that is spoken of here in

the Lalitasahasranama must also be a diamond nasal

ornament. A pearl never radiates several colours. The

tradition of “pearl nasal pendant” (muthu-mookuthi – in

Tamil) always associated with ambaaL shows that perhaps at

one time it was the pearl pendant that must have been

dominantly in vogue.

 

The fullness of both masculine and feminine beauty is

usually talked about in respect of Lord Krishna. So the

deities of Krishna always show a nasal pendant. There is a

famous shloka starting with the words “kasturi-tilakaM

.....” praising Krishna, in which you get the words “nAsAgre

nava-mouktikaM” – ‘brand new pearl ornament at the tip of

the nose’ .

 

Here the Acharya’s citing of pearl pendant as the nasal

ornament for ambaaL contributes well to the metaphor of

the bamboo flag-staff. When a bamboo is of an excellent

variety, there is an ancient tradition (handled as such by

poets consistently) that such a bamboo contains pearls

inside it. A similar belief is there with respect to the

frontal globe (mastaka) of an elephant and also with

respect to sugarcane. Indeed in shloka 74 of

Soundaryalahari the Acharya tells us that ambaal’s chest is

adorned with a necklace made of pearls got from the frontal

globe of Gajasura, slain by the Lord. In the present

shloka, ambaal’s nose which is, as it were, the hollow

bamboo staff, is visualised to contain pearls as per the

tradition about the bamboo.

 

But wait! Tradition says there are pearls within the

bamboo, not outside it! Here the nasal pendant of ambaal is

outside the nose. Isn’t it a flaw in the analogy?

 

The Acharya takes care of this beautifully. It is through

the hollow of the nose (bamboo) that ambaal is exhaling her

breath. When air passes through the hollow of a bamboo

there results the music of the flute. Here the nasal breath

exhales the pearls that are inside and pushes them out as a

nasal pendant! It is the breath of the Almighty that is

said to constitute the Vedas. The ultimate content of the

Vedas is Mukti, the final Release. ‘Mukti’ and ‘mukta’

(pearl) are handled in combination by poets for purposes

of rhyme. Here the Acharya says that it is the mukti that

is exhaled by ambaal in the form of the mukta!

 

There is a further play of words in the use of ‘vamsha’.

This word means ‘bamboo’. Recall the shloka beginning with

the words ‘vamshI-vibhUshhita-karAt’ in praise of Krishna.

It means that His hand is adorned by the flute of the

bamboo. The same ‘vamsha’ also means ‘lineage’. So ambaal

is addressed as the flag of the lineage of the Mountain

King – ‘tuhina-giri-vamsha-dvaja-paTi’.

 

Now let us take up the Yoga matter, hidden in this shloka.

The breath that comes out of ambaal’s nose and that brings

the pearls outside is spoken of as coming out of the ‘left

nostril’. But there is no word in the shloka which directly

means ‘left nostril’. The only words are

‘shishira-kara-nishvAsa-galitaM’.

 

‘nishvAsa’ is exhalation;

‘uchvAsa’ is inhalation;

‘galita’ means ‘expelled (out)’.

‘shishira-kara’ is what indicates the left nostril, though

its direct meaning is just ‘the moon’. Note that ‘shishira’

and ‘hima’ mean the same thing, namely, ‘cold’. Whenever

the Acharya talks of the moon in relation to ambAl, he uses

‘hima-kara’ or ‘shishira-kara’ meaning that which gives a

soothing of cold. Thus ‘shishira-kara-nishvAsa-galitaM’

means that which is exhaled by the ‘moon-exhalation’. How

this becomes the ‘left- nostril-exhalation’ is the hidden

secret of Yoga in this shloka.

 

According to yoga-shAstra, when the mind is drawn towards

desire or anger or the like, the inhalation is by the left

nostril and exhalation by the right. On the other hand,

when the mind stays deep in noble thoughts, the inhalation

is by the right nostril and exhalation by the left. When

there is no thought passing through the mind the breath

stays as kumbhaka without exhalation or inhalation. AmbaaL

is always engrossed in the most noble thought of

compassion. So She inhales by the right nostril and exhales

by the left!

 

Now the chandra-nishvAsa (moon-exhalation) of ambaal is

explainable from Yoga. There are three nADis in the human

body through which the spiritual current passes. On the

right of the spinal column there is the ‘pingala’, on the

left there is the ‘iDA’ and the central one is ‘sushhumnA’.

Since there is identity between JivAtmA and ParamAtmA, the

names ‘moon’ for the left eye, ‘sun’ for the right eye and

‘agni’ for the third eye translate into the names ‘moon

channel’ for ‘iDA’ on the left, and ‘sun channel’ for

‘pingala’ on the right. Hence the meaning of

‘shishikara-nishvAsa’ is exhalation by the left nostril!

 

To be Continued

Thus spake the Paramacharya

 

praNAms to all advaitins and devotees of Mother Goddess.

profvk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

Also see the webpages on Paramacharya's Soundaryalahari :

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/DPDS.html